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A Confident Call to Faith: Rediscovering the Relevance of Christian Catechisms

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Page 1 of 10 Original Research A confident call to faith: Rediscovering the relevance of Christian catechisms Author: Protestant heritage is synonymous with the traditional employment of catechisms and 1 Raymond Potgieter catechetical teaching of both young and old. Many denominations have shifted from this historical approach, not least because of the challenges of so-called catechetical vacuums Affiliation: 1Faculty of Theology, North- when facing third-millennial issues. The Heidelberg, Anglican and Westminster Catechisms West University, South Africa allow for express distinctions peculiar to each unique Protestant faith constituency, but serve acceptably within the wider ecumenical tradition. A rediscovery of the historical contexts of Correspondence to: these historical formulations will illustrate traditional denominational Protestant flexibility Raymond Potgieter accompanying its Christian creedal fixity. This study will refer to confessional content in the Email: main without resorting to particular content. The intention is to show how these polarities [email protected] could dynamically serve the confessing church in meeting present-day challenges to the Christian faith in a manner that once again will inspire confidence in its catholic witness in the Postal address: third millennium. PO Box 19491, Noordbrug 2522, South Africa Dates: ’n Oortuigde oproep tot geloof: Die herontdekking van die relevansie van Christelike Received: 24 Jan. 2013 kategismusse. Die protestantse erfenis is sinoniem met die tradisionele gebruik van die Accepted: 02 Sept. 2013 Published: 15 Nov. 2013 kategismusse en die kategetiese onderrig van oud en jonk. Baie kerkgenootskappe neig weg van hierdie historiese benadering hoofsaaklik as gevolg van die uitdagings van die sogenaamde How to cite this article: kategetiese leemtes in die hantering van derde millenniumkwessies. Die Heidelbergse, Potgieter, R., 2013, ‘A Anglikaanse en Westminsterse Kategismusse laat ruimte vir spesifieke onderskeidings wat confident call to faith: eie is aan elke unieke protestantse geloofsgemeenskap, maar wat nogtans binne die breër Rediscovering the relevance of Christian catechisms’, ekumeniese tradisie aanvaar word. ’n Herontdekking van die historiese konteks van hierdie In die Skriflig/In Luce Verbi tradisionele formulerings sal tradisioneel kerklik-protestantse buigsaamheid illustreer wat 47(2), Art. #686, 10 pages. met konfessionele vastheid gepaard gaan. Hierdie artikel verwys na konfessionele inhoud http://dx.doi.org/10.4102/ oor die algemeen sonder om spesifieke inhoud aan te toon. Die doel is dus om aan te toon ids.v47i2.686 hoedanig hierdie polariteite die belydende kerk daadwerklik kan help om die daaglikse Copyright: uitdagings van die Christelike geloof op so ’n wyse te hanteer dat daar weer vertroue in die © 2013. The Authors. algemene getuienis van die kerk in die derde millennium sal wees. Licensee: AOSIS OpenJournals. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Introduction Attribution License. The Christian church claims to be the guardian of revealed truth as contained in the Bible. Historically, this translated into formulating creeds, confessions and catechisms. Creeds take on the form of ‘a concise, formal, and authorised statement of important points of Christian doctrine’ (Cross & Livingstone 1974:358), for example the Apostle’s and the Athanasian creeds. More specifically, a confession is ‘a declaration of religious belief’. This word has also been applied to the traditional ecumenical creeds of the church. A development during the Protestant Reformation of the 16th and 17th centuries was confessional expressions of faith with the added element of defining its particular confessors communally as a distinct religious body (Cross & Livingstone ibid:329–330). With the concern for truth in the light of differing opinions and opposition to heresy, the cure of souls, recourse was made to yet another expression of the Christian faith. Underlying this concern for truth is ‘the study and dissemination of the Bible’ (Bray 1994:17) which was essential to the rise of the Reformation. Its formulated truths were often expressed in the distinctly peculiar form of a catechism. There is no manifesto available on the use of catechisms within the Christian community. A rewarding exercise though is to draw together some of the bits and pieces relevant to the subject as documented in various historical documents. These will reveal the careful boundaries delineated for individual catechisms from their historical context, purpose and distinct form. To Read online: that end selected documentation about the Heidelberg Catechism (HC), Anglican Prayer Book Scan this QR Catechism (APBC) and the Westminster Catechisms (WC) will be examined. code with your smart phone or mobile device Emerging from the aforementioned will be the observation that, although these three catechisms to read online. focus on developing systematic theological distinctives, natural revelation is not particularly http://www.indieskriflig.org.za doi:10.4102/ids.v47i2.686 Page 2 of 10 Original Research addressed as a form of revelation. This is evident from the Medieval catechetical teaching truths disseminated from, for instance physical science Contextually the 16th century Reformation emerged from the and one of the reasons Christians are so divided on these background of the Middle Ages, a period Lane (2007:90) says matters. The church needs to express a holistic view of Protestants need to revisit for its struggle between faith and revelation which will uniquely define and succinctly address reason, a contemporary problem. Whereas monastic theology matters pertaining to science and theology. To that end the church may once again recapture the significant value of its tended towards a particular way of living, for example catechisms for the Christian church in the 3rd millennium. Regula Benedicti, its purpose was to elicit edification and worship and was not primarily a pursuit of knowledge for its own sake (Lane ibid:88) – a paradigm challenged during Some introductory comments the Reformation, but not resolved. Catechism comes from kateleo and means ‘to cause to listen’, implying instruction. From the Latin catechismus the further Aristotelian logic influenced medieval theology. During implication is that of word of mouth teaching. Turrel this time embryonic universities emerged as the weight of (2006:500–508) defines a catechism as ‘a manual of Christian scholarship gradually shifted from monastery to cathedral doctrine, designed for a popular audience’. Martin Luther with persons such as Peter Abelard (1079–1142) and John Hus (1872:124, para. CCLXV) said ‘The catechism must govern the (c. 1369–415) who began scrutinising the church’s doctrine church, and remain lord and ruler.’ The word catechism was and methodology. ‘Reason had entered theology not [yet] popularly used in the early 16th century, although the form as a means of defining Christian doctrine [which was based of catechetical teaching predates that (Cross & Livingstone on revelation], but as a technique for defending and further 1974:249). understanding this faith’ (Lane 2007:89). The Bible became available to laity in the vernacular viz. John Wycliffe (c. Catechism was originally intended as an oral means of 1320–1384), whilst internationally this period had to deal religious instruction preparing catechumens including with the fall of Constantinople in 1453, papal rivalry and the children and adults for confirmation of their Christian faith, beginnings of social emergence from serfdom. By the 15th for example The Book of Common Prayer (BCP) (n.d.:288–289). century theology was dually centred in the realm of God’s Preparation included teaching as well as transformation in revelation and philosophy (Lane ibid:89). How would the its addressing of morals, religious practice and such matters. Reformation respond? Finally, however, no catechism covers all the particulars of the understanding of Christian theology and, by virtue of Amidst these aforementioned dynamics, medieval its brevity, touches upon the essentials for Christian faith catechetical teaching continued to follow the Early Church’s and living (Turrel 2006:500) as generically defined by the rigorous preparation of candidates for baptism with its church. Little account is taken of the impact of life beyond concern for backsliding from the faith. Religious instruction the confines of its definition such as the historical progress of prior to the Reformation generally found its place after scientific discoveries and its interpretations of reality. baptism or before, for those catechumens not baptised as An example of Early Church catechetical practice was infants. Ascendancy of the practice of god-parenting led to that expressed by the ‘golden mouthed’ John Chrysostom sharing in the responsibility for nurturing a godchild in the (c. 347–407). He, famously, viewed marriage and the family content of the faith and to ensure pursuit of a moral life. as a ‘little church’ which Johnson (2002) argues in a thesis includes not only responsibility of managing the church, Catechetical teaching generally followed the threefold pattern but also of parents in teaching their children. Hippolytus of of faith (Apostle’s Creed), hope (Lord’s Prayer) and charity Rome (d. 235) was apparently less concerned about the size of (Ten Commandments). Teaching content tended towards his congregation than about the morals and values professed stylistic harmony centred in sevens so that the
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